journal spaces of new media - max van der pluijm

7/28/2019 Journal Spaces of New Media - Max van der Pluijm

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Spaces of (New) Media - University Utrecht

SNM1Number1

New Working and Business

-----------------------------------New Working & Business in a Network Society and the changing relations with space

Workspace as a culturally produced hybrid space

When technology comes to the aid!

Big ocean, small fish


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Colophon

SNM1 is a publication of the University Utrecht. With a

circulation of 5 printed editions, SNM1 is the biggest journal

in the Netherlands specialised in New Working and

Business

Editorial staff

Matthijs van Dijk - Editor

Sanne Botterblom - Author

Max van der Pluijm - Author | Designer

Karen Siemers - Author

SNM1 is being printed forJSTOR, Routledge, MIT Press, Chicago University Press,

London SAGE Publishers, University of Toronto Press,

Harvard University Press, Edward Elger Publishing.

Spaces of (New) Media - University Utrecht

SNM1New Working and Business

With the rise of the Internet there also seems to be a rise of

a changing perspective on working and business. How can

this shift in working be understood from an overarching

view? What does a new way of working mean for our

approach to space? What has really changed in doing

business from an archaeological perspective? And what do

the changing relations with space mean for legislation with

its traditional jurisdictions?

By examining the various aspects within this possible shift

by answering those questions, the strong implications

between new media and space will get clearly visible. All the

contributors on this journal share the same knowledge fromtheir Master in New Media and Digital Culture at Utrecht

University. Within the introduction of this journal the content

of the publication will be explained.

Editorial office

SNM1


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!

ContentsNew Working & Business in a

Network Society and the

changing relations with spaceA detailed editorial introduction to the field

and the journal

Written by Matthijs van Dijk

Pages 4-7

Workspace as a culturally

produced hybrid space

An analysis of the new way of working can

complement the way media scholars think

about hybrid spaces

Written by Sanne Botterblom

Pages 8-13

When technology comes to theaid!A research where the archaeological value

in line with outsourcing is explained through

the means of customer services

Written by Max van der Pluijm

Pages 14-19

Big ocean, small fish

An analysis of the ongoing struggle

between the established entertainment

industry and 'online' pirates

Written by Karen Siemers

Pages 20-26


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New Working & Business

in a Network Society and the

changing relations with space


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Introduction

Written by Matthijs van Dijk

With the rise of the Internet within

private and professional life, there

seems to be a shift in the relation

between this networks users and space,

especially under the influence of

mediated communication that hasgrown explosively in the last two

decades. Information and

communication technologies (ICTs) and

especially mobile technologies, in

combination with a connection to the

Internet, became increasingly

ubiquitous in our daily personal and

professional life for the last years. [1]

Also the popular and academic debate

around these entanglements and the

social, technological and economical

implications seem to be continues. Theconcept of the network society is an

often-used notion within the academic

debate to interpret these entanglements

and implications, sometimes in the

broadest sense with loss of nuance. Also

within the popular debate around

working and business in recent years,

this notion takes extensive and often

utopian or hyped forms. This popular

rhetoric can often be recognized by

changes in working under the definition

of Employee 2.0 [2] in a New World

of Work (Vaas). Or by the

consequences for doing business in a

so-called Society 3.0 where everything

...revolves around you as a world

citizen and your role in Society

3.0 (Hoff, van den).

Although we must be strongly

critical about this rhetoric within the

popular debate, it cant be denied that

the realm of working and business is

changing, partly under the influence of

ICTs. This journal will shed a light on

the implications of ICTs on working

and business from the viewpoint of

spaces and new media. This is a realm

wherein our understanding of place

and time is changing because of the

ubiquitous connections made possible

in a so-called network society. But

focusing on these technologies alone

would be a misplaced approach. Thisjournal will show, from an academic

perspective, that changes in work and

business arent just technological,

theres a strong interposal with social

life that makes this shift complex. Of

course this notion is extensively debated

already [3], but this journal will

emphasize the perception and

awareness of space within this mediated

world based on actual cases within the

realm of working and business. This

introductory article will show on anormative level how this shift in

working and business can be generally

understood. This will be done by a

disquisition of the notion of the network

society as an overarching theory for this

journal and the implications of space in

a mediated world. To empower this

disquisition it first will be embedded in

the rhetoric about new working and

business within the popular discourse.

This is important because this rhetoric

within working and business can often

be characterized by commercial

motives, a phenomenon of which media

and cultural studies should be very

critical because working and business

seems to become a growing part of

social life as this journal will show.

Therefore we should not let this

entanglement be purely defined by

commercial ends.

The entanglements of

space and ICTsThe so-called new world of work isbooming business for software

companies like Microsoft. With the

implementation of the newest intranets

and communication systems,

employees are expected to be more

productive and time efficient: At

Microsoft, we believe that the key to

helping businesses become more agile

and productive in the global economy

is to empower individual workers --

giving them tools that improve

efficiency and enable them to focus onthe highest-value work (Gates).

Although it cant be denied that ICTs

enable people to manage work in a

different way than in earlier days, this

kind of statements are mainly software

focused and often form a binary idea of

what it truly entangles.

In this journal these entanglements

of space and ICTs will be the main

focus. Especially the article of Sanne

Botterblom will show what changes in

work when it becomes more and more

mediated. Using the case of the

Rabobank she shows what this can

entail in a big corporation that isintroducing a new way of working.

There is also a big shift in doing

business as a company in an ICT

mediated world. Max van der Pluijm

will show from an archaeological

perspective, how space may have

changed for businesses because of ICTs.

He will especially focus on the

international expansion of customer

services. This global business also has

an impact on legislation and vice versa,

mainly because legislation isintertwined with the ins and outs of

doing business. As Karen Siemers will

point out in this journal, especially the

media industry is struggling with major

legal changes because the national

borders are becoming problematic due

to online file sharing in the current post-

industrial society. This has

consequences for the private and social

life of Internet users because websites

are getting blocked and specific Internet

Service Providers are prosecuted.

Siemers will show in this journal how,

in this way, different perceptions of

Our understanding of

place and time is

changing because of the

ubiquitous connections

made possible in a so-

called network society

Matthijs van DijkMaster-student New Media and Digital Culture.Extensive knowledge of networks and spacesand trying to look cool on this photo in the

jungle-space.

The popular discourses

cant give a fundamental

explanation of the notion

of the new

MA

TTHIJSVANDIJK5


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MATTHIJSVANDIJK6 space are clashing within a connected

society.

These examples of implications of

new media and space will show the

complexity of the working and business

realm mediated by ICTs. Its hard to

deny that this realm is changing and so

there seems to be a good foundation for

labeling this realm as something new.

But the popular discourses (like theMicrosoft example) cant give a

fundamental explanation of this notion

of the new. In the next section the

notion of a network society will be used

to grasp this changing in working and

business. Besides that there will be

argued that the notion of new media and

space isnt that simple as sometimes

argued in the popular discourse, they

form a dynamic relation of processes.

A dynamic relation of

processesThe notion of the network society is

an often-used concept within the realm

of new media, so for this journal,

wherein the concept of the network

society is overarching, it is important to

set out a definition as a foundation for

the main articles in this journal. But

before defining the concept it is

valuable to view this form of society

from a short archaeological perspective

as argued by Jan van Dijk to understand

the possible newness. Mainly because

this will especially underline the

perception of space and the use of

networks through human history. In his

book The Network Society, Van Dijk

portrays the worlds societal history as a

succession of five worldwide webs

(Dijk, van 21-23). The first two

worldwide webs were dominated by

people spreading around the world in

the form of tribes and eventually the

forming of cities from where the first

civilizations arose. The following thirdweb was dominated by the fusion of

civilizations that causes the rise of large

empires and where transport and

communication improved because of

better roads, bigger ships and alphabetic

writing. The fourth web that arose from

around 1450 brought the different

continental civilizations in contact via

oceanic connections. People moved to

cities and became enrolled in larger

social networks that resulted in a faster

and cheaper circulation of informationthan ever before (21-22). Finally the last

network as a global network arose in

the last 160 years whereby the human

web was thickening instead of

widening and the volume and the

number of new means of transport (i.e.

cars and trains) and communication

(i.e. telephone, TV and finally

computers and networks) exploded

(23).

So this disquisition shows that for

thousands of years there was some

kind of networked society whereindifferent geographical spaces where

connected in different ways. Just the

last couple of decades this society

transformed in a global network. It

seems that this global network is often

called the network society or, as

Siemers will show, an information

society in the post-industrial age. To

grasp the concept of the network society

more tightly it is fruitful to use Manuel

Castells notion of the network society,

mainly because he was one of the firstacademics to seriously and thoroughly

introduce this concept (Castells).

Besides that, he clearly focuses on the

global connections made possible by the

Internet. Castells states that under three

conditions the Internet became the lever

for the transition to a new form of

society, in the last quarter of the

twentieth century, with a social

structure based on networks. The first

condition is from an economic

perspective, where there is the need for

management flexibility and the

globalization of capital, production and

trade. Second there is the social

perspective from where the demand of

society in which the values of

individual freedom and open

communication became paramount.

And finally from a technological

perspective Castells states that the

extraordinary advances in computing

and telecommunications where an

important condition for the shift to the

so-called network society (2).

So it seems, according to Castells

notion, that the Internet levers the new

form of society with the creation of

digital connections via the Internet. But

it is important to note that this doesnt

go beyond physical or geographical

space in some cyberspacial or virtual

world. Castells underlines this by

stating that with the network society

there emerged a space of flows. This

space is not placeless because it links

places by telecommunicated computernetworks whereby it doesnt cancel

geography (Castells 207). The

anthropologist Brigitte Jordan calls this

the blurring between the real and the

virtual where a growing number of

people live in a hybrid world. This

world exists around a global flow of

information, which is formed by the

Internet as Castells also shows.

According to Jordan, what we once

called virtual has become all too real

and a part of the real world has been

overlaid with characteristics we thought

of as belonging to the virtual (Jordan

181-182). So much the more this shows

that there isnt some default equilibriumwithin this network society which does

make it a complex whole. This

complexity will be exposed in the

articles within this journal and is

definitely more complex then

sometimes stated in the popular

discourse about new working and

business. The book Society 3.0 by

Ronald van den Hoff makes a good

example, he conceptualises a changing

society with the popular term Society

3.0 (Hoff, van den). Although it isntbad to give a phenomenon a name (as

happens with the phenomenon of the

network society) it always needs

thorough consideration before theres

any value derived from it. A quote from

the book Society 3.0 shows some fierce

(marketing) name-dropping and

apocalyptic metaphors:

A digital tsunami is heading our way,

which will make sure that our

intelligence and our information merges

and gets entangled. Unaware, we all

become part of The Global Brain, also

known as Web 4.0. If we want this isnt

the question. How we want it, thats

something we can still exert some

influence on[4] (Hoff, van den 287).

This kind of rhetoric seems to emerge

increasingly within the popular realm of

working and business. This quote

suggests as if every Internet user

becomes an inevitable part of some all-

determining global brain. From anacademic perspective these notions

within the realm of working and

business should be watched carefully

There is an important

role for academics to

unravel the complex

relations of new media

and space


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MATTHIJSVANDIJK7and specially from a media and cultural

studies perspective instead of a mere

business studies perspective. This is

mainly the case because, as Stuart Elden

suggests on the basis of a notion by

Lefebvre, capitalism has greatly

expanded its control over private life

often through an organisation of space

(Elden 4). An example is the time and

place independent ways of working, asBotterblom will discuss, where the

boundary between private and working

life blurs, often because of ICTs.

Another example of where business

enters private life and organises space is

the so-called online-piracy. This issue

evolves around the media industry and

the online behaviour of millions of

Internet users worldwide, a notion on

which Siemers will zoom in. It must be

understood that this isnt just a

technology and business focusedmanner as these examples, and

especially the vision of Van den Hoff,

might show at first sight.

It is important to note that the different

perspectives on new media and space

must not be seen as a pre-existing given

(or, likewise, as an inevitable tsunami

that is heading our way according to

Van den Hoff). As Mark Nunes states,

based on the notion of the production of

space by the French sociologist Henri

Lefebvre, it is a dynamic relation of

processes. Nunes advocates for the

analysis of networked social space as an

event, by using Lefebvres notion as a

theoretical grounding (Nunes 25).

According to Lefebvre, space can be

analysed on how it is produced and

experienced as respectively a social

formation and a mental construction.

This analysis can be executed by

approaching it from his triadic model

where he focuses on space as a unity

that consists of the following entities:

first, the way space is perceived in a

concrete and physical way and second,

the way it is conceived in an abstract

and mental way. These two entities

form a unity with the third entity that

constitutes the way space is lived as

realised abstraction of space by social

actors or groups (Elden 9-11). Although

this model wont be applied one-on-one

in this journal, the following articles

will clearly show how this combination

forms the way that different socialactors are living space in relation to new

media in a rather complex and

ambiguous way. Scott Kirsch, as cited

by Elden, also points at the importance

of involving technology: "In addition to

its significance to production in space,

technology also plays a mediating role

in the production of space". As Kirsch

states, we should not approach this

mediating role in a simple way like the

(often used) shrinking world metaphor,

because this risks loosing sight of: the

complex relation between capital,technology and space (Elden 7). So,

although the theory of Lefebvre goes

back to the midst of the twentieth

century, this perspective seems useful

nowadays because of the ubiquitous use

of computer-mediated communication.

It seems that there is an important role

for academics to unravel the complex

relations of new media and space that

must go beyond the limited perspectives

that emerge very often within the

popular debate. This journal forms thisrequired critical and fundamental view

on new media and space by uncovering

the complexity with the focus on new

working and business in a network

society. With the use ofthree different

cases, those articles will unravel that

complexity in an insightful and

academic way.

Endnotes

1. International TelecommunicationUnion. 11 April 2012 .

2. Werknemer 2.0 - Alles over Het

Nieuwe Werken | Werken20.nl. 26

March 2012 .

3. Already in 1998 Nancy Baym,

professor in communication studies,

talked about a fusion between offline

and online in her research on online

communities. She shows through the

notion of the omnipresence of offline

context in online interactions and the

movement of online relations to

offline (Baym).

4. Loosely translated from Dutch

by the author of this article.

Bibliography

Baym, Nancy. "The Emergence of

Online Community." CyberSociety 2.0:

Revisiting Computer-mediated

Communication and Community

(1998).

Castells, Manuel. The Internet

galaxy: reflections on the Internet,business, and society. Oxford: Oxford

University Press, 2002.

Dijk, van, Jan. The network

society: social aspects of new media.

London: Sage, 2006.

Elden, Stuart. "There is a Politics

of Space because Space is Political:

Henri Lefebvre and the Production of

Space." Gradnet. 16 April 2012 .

Gates, Bill. The New World of

Work. 19 May 2005. 12 March 2012

.

Hoff, van den, Ronald. Society 3.0.

Stichting Society3.0, 2011.

Jordan, Brigitte. "BlurringBoundaries: The "Real" and the

"Virtual" in Hybrid Spaces." Human

Organization 2009: 181-193.

Nunes, Mark. "Chapter 1."

Cyberspaces of Everyday Life.

Minneapolis: University of Minnesota

Press, 2006.

Vaas, Fietje. The New World of

Work - Het Nieuwe Werken Blog -

Verruimt uw inzicht in Het Nieuwe

Werken. 11 April 2012 .
http://www.werken20.nl/werknemer-20/http://www.werken20.nl/werknemer-20/http://www.werken20.nl/werknemer-20/http://www.werken20.nl/werknemer-20/http://www.werken20.nl/werknemer-20/http://www.werken20.nl/werknemer-20/http://www.werken20.nl/werknemer-20/http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/


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Workspace as a culturally

produced hybrid space


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Introduction

Written by Sanne Botterblom

Information and communication

technologies (ICTs) provide companies

a way to adapt to a business world that

is growing in flexibility. The Internet

for example makes sure that

information can be found faster, whichleads to faster innovations in a company

(Traxler et al 284). We can see

companies digitalizing their work

processes in order to deal with their

clients needs for flexibility (ibidem).

This new way of working leads to a

new way of thinking about digital and

physical workspace, which should be

researched in order to understand this

new way of doing business.

This article will show how an

analysis of the new way of working cancomplement the way media scholars

think about hybrid spaces. A discourse

analysis on scientific articles will show

how hybrid spaces are seen by several

scholars. The analysis of documents

regarding the introduction of new

working at the Rabobank will illustrate

this new and complex hybrid space.

The main argument of this article

will be that the notion of hybrid space

isnt fully acknowledged in the way

media scholars and organisations think

about working. And when hybrid space

is mentioned it goes hand in hand with

the assumption that hybrid space leads

to physical space independency. But it

will be argued that this is not the case

for two main reasons. 1: Physical space

does still matter, because physical space

influences the way we interact with the

virtual element of hybrid space. 2:

Dominant cultures make sure that

individuals behave according to certain

standards, which lead to a sort of space

dependency.

Even though we can certainly

speak of a hybrid space in workspaces,

this article will show how this hybrid

space becomes more complex when we

look at the role of physical space and

the influence of culture. To clarify this

point, the Rabobank will be used as a

case to show how hybrid spaces areseen in practice. This will lead to a

better understanding of the complexity

of the construction of hybrid spaces.

The Rabobank introduced a new

way of working in 2009.[1] The

Rabobank is witnessing the shift to a

networked society, a concept that is

defined in the introduction article.[2] In

order to deal with this network society,

the Rabobank introduced a new way of

working. The Rabobank needs to

maintain their clients in this rougheconomic climate. To do so, they have

to meet the clients wishes as much as

possible. Clients have become more

demanding towards the service they

receive. This means that clients of the

Rabobank want to be served in a

fashionable way, wherever and

whenever they want to. Employees that

are working with clients with high

demands must be able to meet these

demands and become more flexible in

the way that they are able to work late

hours in places that are not the office.[2]

In order to arrange this flexible

kind of service, the Rabobank thinks it

is useful to also treat their employees

with this kind of flexibility, so that the

employees are also capable of providing

flexible services to their clients.[2]

Rabobank unplugged has therefore been

introduced and it provides employees

the freedom to work where they want,

whenever they want. As long as they

provide good work results, the

Rabobank thinks it does not matter

where and when they want to work.[2]

RaboUnplugged consists of three

internal environments, the physical, the

virtual and the mental environment.[2]

The physical environment consists of

the offices and facilities within these

offices. The virtual is a digital

environment where employees can find

all the files, systems and information

that they need in order to do their

work. The mental environment is the

environment where the employees areguided to learn how to work result

oriented and flexible. Here the

employee learns how to act according

to the new culture within the

organisation.

Fading the physical and

the virtual: a hybrid

spacePascale Carayon has stated that ICTs

broadened the workspace to otherphysical environments like homes and

cafs (12). According to Carayon a

change in the ICT will also lead to a

change in these environments (11). She

shows that ICTs are connected with the

physical world but what she doesnt

show is that these environments are

connected in a way that they cant be

separated anymore.

Saim Muhammed also

acknowledges that ICTs have impact on

the spatiality of working. He states that

some employees no longer have to work

in an office, but can work from any

place they want. They work in a virtual

environment that makes sure they are

no longer location dependent

(Muhammed 15-34). There are also

employees that can only do their jobs in

the physical world of the office, and

employees that both work in the virtual

environment and the physical

environment. The latter need to work

within the virtual environment, but at

the same time still have to meet at theoffice sometimes. He states that these

employees work in a hybrid space,

where a mixture of virtual and physical

workspace is required. Virtual work

environments are very promising

according to Muhammed, because

employees no longer have to travel to

work (15-34).

But this definition of hybrid spaces

is not sufficient, because it fails to

explain how intertwined technology and

physical spaces are. According toAdriana de Souza e Silva hybrid space

is a space where the physical and digital

complement each other. Through digital

The employee is place

independent in that way

that he can choose

wherever he wants to

work from, but the result

of work itself is place

dependent

Sanne BotterblomMaster-student New Media and Digital Culture.Extensive knowledge about the Rabobank.Plays guitar in her free time.

SAN

NEBOTTERBLOM9


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SANN

EBOTTERBLOM

10 devices we are always in contact with

each other and with information. Digital

and virtual environments can no longer

be separated from each other, because

mobile technologies make sure that

everyone can access the Internet from

every place: [t]he emergence of

portable communication technologies

has contributed to the possibility of

being always connected to digitalspaces, literally carrying the Internet

wherever we go (De Souza e Silva,

264).

But when the virtual can be reached

through digital devices from practically

everywhere, where does that leave the

physical environment? De Souza e Silva

does not mention whether the physical

world has an influence in how we deal

with the virtual, she only explains that

social interactions shape the hybrid

space. Carayon shows us thatenvironments have an influence on how

work is done. When working from a

home where little children are crying,

employees get less work done than

when they are working from a home

where the employee is the only one

present (11).

We can see this hybrid space as a

place with a virtual/physical dualism.

Wojciech Kalaga explains how the

virtual can only exist when it is in a

constant relationship with actual objects

(Kalaga 97). The virtual is a potentiality

of an actual object. With the help of

technology we can better see all the

potential options of the actual world.

The virtual elements are needed to show

how physical, or actual objects can be

used. Every actual object thus has a

certain potential that can only be

realized by the relations with the virtual

(96-103).

Michel Foucault also shows how

the physical element of hybrid space is

of importance. He explains that a

heterotopia is a place free of cultural

domination. Heterotopias are not really

physically present, like the space of a

phone call or the moment a person sees

himself in the mirror (1984). A person is

not physically in this heterotopia but

can change what happens in this

heterotopia. Working in a virtual

environment can be seen as a

heterotopia, where ICTs provide the

entrance to this heterotopia. In

Foucaults sixth principal ofheterotopias he shows how

heterotopias create a space of illusion

that exposes every real space, all the

sites inside of which human life is

partitioned (sixth principle). By

entering a heterotopia a person can see

real space and becomes aware of this

real, physical space. When an employee

works in the virtual environment, he

will become aware of the place where

he is working and act upon this space

while he is influenced by the

heterotopia.The digital devices are thus used as

a mirror to show the virtual elements of

this hybrid space. These virtual

elements consist of relations with the

physical environment. This means that

for example the office has different

relations to the virtual environment than

for example an employees home. The

employee is place independent in that

way that he can choose wherever he

wants to work from, but the result of

work itself is place dependent, becausethe location from where work has been

done can have impact on the way that

work is done.

Until so far we have seen that

workspace consists of a virtual and

physical element that cant be separated

from each other and are being shaped

by each other. When we take a look at

the Rabobank case, we can see that the

Rabobank acknowledges these virtual

and physical elements.

The Virtual and the Physical inRaboUnpluggedAs was mentioned in the introduction,

the new workplace of the Rabobank is

divided in three work-environments. In

this chapter the physical and virtual

environment are being analysed. The

Rabobank only recognizes a small

overlap between the virtual and the

physical environments.[2] This means

that the virtual work environment is

also reachable from the physical office.

Although the Rabobank seems to

consider the virtual and the physical aslargely separated, in their documents

they focus on place independency. ICTs

make sure that employees can work

wherever they want, whenever they

want.[3] It is important to say here that

the employees still need to work

according to the values of the

Rabobank, so they are free as long as

they stick to these values, but this will

be explained in the next chapter.[2] So

in a certain way the Rabobank

acknowledges a hybrid space. Theyknow their employees can have Internet

access everywhere, so they can work

everywhere.

Other than that, the physical

environment is still very important for

the Rabobank. They provide a variation

of office spaces to their employees, so

they can work in different settings.

They can sit in a quiet booth or a

conference hall for example.[4] The

Rabobank expects the best results from

its employees and therefore provides

different locations that suit theemployees needs.

Other than the above-mentioned

theorists, the Rabobank doesnt see the

role of the virtual element. They focus

on the design and reachability of the

office spaces, while they barely pay

attention to the design of the virtual

workspace.[2] The Rabobank also sees

the office as a base from where most of

the work is done, and a meeting place

where an employee can meet and

cooperate with their coworkers. Soalthough the Rabobank acknowledges a

form of hybrid space, they focus on the

role of the physical without spending

much attention to the role of the virtual

workspace by introducing

RaboUnplugged.

When we look at the discourse from

scholars and the Rabobank about

workspaces it becomes clear that it

promises a place independent way of

working. Muhammed and de Souza e

Silva showed that place independency is

guaranteed by ICTs without

acknowledging the role of the physical

element within the hybrid spaces.

Physical space has influence on the

work results. The Rabobank case shows

that although employees can work

wherever they want, they still have the

office as a base from where a big part of

the work is done. We can thus say that

there are certain rules about working in

a hybrid space, like treating the office as

a base from where cooperative work

can be done. In the next chapter will be

explained how hybrid space is culturally

produced and how these rules come to

exist.

Fading the hybrid and

the mental: a culturally

produced hybrid spaceStuart Elden shows how the French

philosopher Henri Lefebvre explains

how space is socially, culturally and

politically produced. The way peopledeal with space shows how they

understand and experience space (Elden

5). Lefebvre shows how every


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11individual understands space in their

own particular way. Al these individuals

act upon space, forming space in the

way they understand it. Every employee

thus understands and shapes the

workspace on his own individual way,

so workspace is different for every

person that is involved in this space.

Sharad Chari and Vinay Gidwani

show how this production of spaceallows certain ideologies and dominant

cultural values to organise the way

individuals experience space. They state

cultural production, or the ongoing,

creative work of reinterpretation in

everyday life, is necessary for cultural

reproduction, or the maintenance of

ideologies, discourses and persisting

cultural forms, which in turn are

necessary for people to participate in

concrete acts of social reproduction,

which make possible the durability ofsocial institutions that scaffold

particular capitalisms for

instance (268). By struggling these

dominant values an individual forms

and determines his own position within

space. This means there is a difference

in how certain individuals experience

hybrid space.

But hybrid space is not only

different for every individual, but also

for groups of individuals. There is a

difference in how managers and

employees act upon space. Maureen

Mackenzie found that employees for

example find familial bonds more

important than managers do.

Employees thus need more personal

contacts that are grounded on trust and

reliance. Mackenzie states that

managers in general need less personal

contacts and just want to see good

results. This can lead to a struggle and

misunderstandings in the workplace,

since employees think they need more

personal contact with their managers

(533). When every employee works

time and place independent, the efforts

to maintain these familial bonds are

much higher, because result driven

work gets even more important and

managers spend more time getting the

best results (536).

But there is not just a difference in

how certain individuals and groups

produce space. According to Anne Sofie

Laegran, groups and individuals also

adapt to the dominant culture withinspace, without losing their own

understanding of space (1993). She

gives an example about working at

night. When employees are time and

space independent in their work, they

usually still work on office hours,

because their clients and coworkers are

also working at these hours. Employees

want to be found useful for their co-

workers and clients, and so employees

adapt to their co-workers and clients

work hours (1993). The employees feel

obligated to adapt to this culture,because they are afraid that they lose

their jobs when they dont adapt (1994).

Hybrid space is thus a place where

everyone has the same options

regarding to working place and time

independent in this hybrid space, but

where dominant culture influences these

independencies and makes them

dependent. Groups and individuals

understand space in their own way and

act within space in their own way. But

they also have to subject to a dominantculture. So their freedom of using

hybrid space is culturally limited..

A culturally produced hybrid

space in RaboUnpluggedNext to the virtual and the physical

environment, RaboUnplugged also

consists of a mental environment. Inthis mental environment the employees

are guided in learning how to deal with

the change of the company culture.

They have to learn how to be a flexible,

result-driven worker in an organisation

that is flexible and stands for good

results. [2]

To get the best work results, the

Rabobank thinks that employees should

collaborate as much as possible.[5]

Therefore they consider the offices as a

home base for all forms of teamwork.[2] When working at the office will

provide better results than working from

home, the employee is expected to work

at the office.[6] That means that the

employee is not exactly free to choose

where he wants to work.

The most important thing for the

Rabobank is their clients.[2]

RaboUnplugged was introduced to be

better prepared for a flexible customer.

Therefore the employees must also be

flexible, in order to serve the clients in

the way that the client wants. Theemployee is not exactly place and time

independent, because it is expected that

the employee serves the clients wishes.

When the client wants to meet, the

employee must be available. Flexibility

was introduced as a privilege for the

employee, who could work place and

time independent. But flexibility turned

out to be compliance, the employee had

to arrange his work schedule to meet the

clients demands about space and time.

We can say that dominant culturalvalues shape the way employees deal

with their freedom to work where and

when they want.

This chapter showed that although

employees seem free in their choices,

dominant cultural values show how

employees should behave within this

freedom. Employees will all give

another meaning to the hybrid

workspace than managers do, by

interacting with it and with others

within this hybrid space. The

Rabobank documents show that the

mental state of employees should be

changed, so that the worker wants to

be result-driven and compliant. But as

the theories have shown, every

individual has another way of

interacting with space and looking at

space. It is therefore not possible that all

the employees think and act in the same

way. This might overlap, because

groups have overlapping understandings

of space and employees will behave

according to the dominant cultural

norm. But employees will not lose their

own way of understanding space and

dealing with space.

ConclusionThe use of ICTs in the workplace makes

sure this workplace can expand to other

physical environments than the office.

Employees can work from any place

they prefer, like home, a bar or a park.

Although, that is what the assumption is

when thinking about new working and

hybrid spaces. When looking at theories

from Carayon, Foucault and Kalaga we

We can say that

dominant cultural values

shape the way employees

deal with their freedom towork where and when

they want.


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12 see that the physical environment has an

impact on how work is performed. And

by exploring the theories of Lefebvre,

Chari & Gidwani, Mackenzie and

Laegran we have seen that dominant

cultural values prevent employees from

being totally free within this hybrid

space. They are controlled by cultural

power that urges them to work

whenever a boss or a client says so.There are some elements of hybrid

space that are not fully recognized yet.

De Souza e Silva and Muhammed did

not fully acknowledge the role of the

physical element in hybrid space. And

the Rabobank did not recognize the

impact of the virtual on the physical

space. The physical and the virtual

elements are constantly in interaction

with each other and are shaping each

other during this interaction. We can

thus not only state that the physical andvirtual elements are intertwined, but

they also shape each other.

But cultural factors also play a role

in the shaping of hybrid space. The

Rabobank shows how employees are

continuously guided in their way of

dealing with the new flexible way of

working. Employees are supposed to

learn how to work flexible, but by

forcing flexibility to an employee, the

employee is not taught how to be

flexible but how to be compliant. Under

the guise of freedom, the employee is

expected to act according to their boss,

clients and co-workers demands. The

employee must do all he can in order to

provide the best possible work results.

By constantly guiding the employee to

adapt to this flexible way of working,

the mental state of the employee is

being shaped to the dominant cultural

values. And even though every

individual has his own way of

producing and understanding space, all

individuals will act to the dominant

cultural values.

The way that scholars and

organisation think about the new way of

working seems very promising.

Employees can work place and time

independent and can decide how to

perform a certain task. This article

showed that these promises appear to be

false. Physical space and dominant

cultural influences shape the hybrid

work environment. To look at this new

way of working can show howincluding the role of physical space and

cultural influences can further specify

assumptions about hybrid space.

As a final remark it must be said

that the case study in this article is

purely based on organisational

documents. These documents show how

the Rabobank will organise

RaboUnplugged and how the Rabobank

thinks RaboUnplugged should be

designed and shaped. There is no reason

to assume that this is how the Rabobank

functions in practice. For betterstatements about the implementation of

the new way of working, an empirical

study should be designed.

Endnotes

1. Rabobank voert komende zes

jaar het nieuwe werken

in [09/15/2009] werken 2.0. http://

www.werken20.nl/nieuws-over-

nieuwe-werken/organisatie-bedrijf/

547/rabobank-voert-komende-zes-

jaar-het-nieuwe-werken-in/ - visitedon 13/04/2012

2. Haan, Harry and Marlon Mols.

RaboUnplugged: werken in de 21ste

eeuw July 6th, http://

www.google.nl/url?

sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=we

b&cd=3&sqi=2&ved=0CEEQFjAC

&url=http%3A%2F

%2Fsharepoint.vincis.com

%2Fhnwnn%2Fseminars

%2Fseminar06062010%2FBestanden%2FRabobank

%2520Unplugged.ppt&ei=pPOHT-

v6GYLP0QWpyYDZCQ&usg=AFQ

jCNFieziKZ4MVSqL_mPLEbyDscr

cPEg&sig2=lhjqFsKwGulDNd4QLO

dHSA - visited on 13/4/2012

3. Nieuwe werkstijl Rabobank

Groep. http://overons.rabobank.com/

content/profiel/nieuwbouw/

rabo_unplugged/tab2.jsp - visited on

13/4/2012

4. Nieuw Kantoor Rabobank

Groep. http://overons.rabobank.com/

content/profiel/nieuwbouw/

nieuwbouw_sub/tab3.jsp - visited on

13/4/2012

5. Haterd, Bas van de. Rabobank

over het nieuwe

werken [08/03/2009] RecTec. http://

www.rectec.nl/2009/08/03/rabobank-

over-het-nieuwe-werken/ - visited on

14/4/2012

6. Ketting, Pieter. Rabo

Unplugged Loslaten en sturen op

resultaat Slim reizen. http://

www.slimreizen.nl/

projectDocuments/

caseDescription_2846.pdf - visited

on 13/4/2012

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Netherlands, under the Influence of
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SANN

EBOTTERBLOM

13Information and Communication

Technologies. Utrecht: Utrecht

University, Royal Dutch Geographical

Society, 2007: 15-34

Souza e Silva, Adriana de. "From

Cyber to Hybrid: Mobile Technologies

as Interfaces of Hybrid Spaces."

Space and Culture 9.3 (2006):

261-278

Traxler, Johannes and Micheal I.

Luger. Businesses and the Internet:

Implications for Firm Location and

Clustering Journal of Comparative

Policy Analysis: Research and Practice

2, 2000: 279-300


14/28

When technology comes to the aid!


15/28

Introduction

Written by Max van der Pluijm

In recent years, thanks to the on-going

progress of liberalization and the

development in information and

communication technology (ICT), more

and more companies are expanding

their services to other countries as partthe on-going globalisation. Outsourcing,

also known as offshoring, has become

an increasingly prominent core activity

for many businesses on strategic level

(Grossman 135). When searching for a

definition of the word outsourcing

throughout the various existing

literature, there can be concluded that it

is a very complex task. Therefore I will

use a paper written by Jagdish

Bhagwati, Arvind Panagariya and

Thirukodikaval Nilakanta Srinivasan todefine the definition. Bhagwati,

Panagariya and Srinivasan state that

outsourcing is the: purchase of services

abroad with the supplier and buyer

remaining in their respective

location. (Bhagwati, Panagariya &

Srinivasan 95). I will stick to this

definition of outsourcing, mainly

because of the fact that location plays a

particular role in this research.

In my research I will look upon the

various archaeological points of view

when new technologies were introduced

in line of customer services. What, for

instance, did the introduction of the

telephone mean for the external

business? What did the Internet do for

the external business? What happened

when mobile telephony was introduced?

And how does social media fit in this

picture? By trying to describe the

various moments in history, in broader

context, there will be explained from an

archaeological point of view that with

the introduction of new information

and media technologies, there was a

great turning point in history when

customer services dramatically

changed. Within this article customer

services are a central topic because of

the fact that nowadays there are plenty

of companies who outsource this

specific aspect of their business, butstill is seen as a crucial aspect of a

business. By stressing this particular

aspect the notion of space can be further

analysed in order to explain the

changing fundamentals within the

external business.

To put this in line of the earlier

mentioned aspect outsourcing, namely

location, it is important to take the

notion of the space of flows coined by

Manuel Castells. The space of flows is

the material organization of time-sharing social practices that work

through flows. (Castells 2004: 147).

Originally, space was considered to be a

passive given, when time was

mentioned as a separate entity, which

was active. Space, in Castells eyes,

should not be seen separate from time.

Castells sees space as a dynamic entity,

closely related to time. Castells also

rejected the thought that space would

disappear upon the creation of a global

village (ibid.: 147). The term global

village can be traced back to Marshall

McLuhan, since McLuhan described

how the globe has been contracted into

a village by electric technology

(McLuhan 31). Everybody is connected

to each other and nowadays the term

global village is more commonly used

as a metaphor to describe the Internet.

Castells on the other hand thinks that

we are not living in a global village but

more in high-level cultural abstraction

of space and time. The space of flows,

as mentioned earlier, comprehends

human action and interaction occurring

dynamically and at a distance. Affected

via telecommunications technology

containing continuous flows of time-

sensitive communications, and the

nodes of global computer systems.

These informational flows connect

people to a continuous, real-time

cybernetic community that differs

from the global village because the

groups position in time becomes

more important than their places(Castells 2004: 147).

But I will criticize this through an

archaeological point view. For in fact

companies do remain in their respective

locations, since their customer services

are nowadays largely placed in third-

world countries. This paper was written

so as to reach the academic audiences

and the general alike. In order to

provide easy access for those without

extensive knowledge of the various

technical language about the concepts

discussed in this research, an effort has

been made to make this approach

simple enough for all audiences tounderstand the used vocabulary. By

examining the information society from

an archaeological perspective it will be

made clear what is new (and at times

not) in the information society. By

taking the customer service from Cisco

Systems, which is an American

multinational corporation specialised in

networking equipment, as a case, an

example can be given in light of the

information society. The technical

language that someone would often findin media studies is explained when and

where needed. Furthermore this article

contains an extensive analysis of the

various media and the notion of space

that has been implemented throughout

this research. The exploration of how

media and customer services are an

intertwined within each other is part of

the information society. The reader will

be given enough of examples within

each paragraph to support the main

theme in this research. By carrying out

this research from an archaeological

perspective and connecting it to the

notion of space, makes it a relevant case

Everybody is connected

to each other and

nowadays the term global

village is more commonly

used as a metaphor to

describe the Internet

Max van der PluijmMaster-student New Media and Digital Culture.Media-archaeologist to the bone.

Tries to look like a cool surfdude.

The exploration of how

media and customer

services are an

intertwined within each

other is part of the

information society

MAXVANDERPLUIJM

15


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MAXVANDERPLUIJM

16 for a number of various fields within

academic and general perspectives.

The shift from offline to

onlineIn order to explain the shift from offline

to online customer services, it is needed

to describe various periods in history

when different media apparatuses were

introduced. In a sort of linear approachthe start will be made with the electric

telegraph, and then go on to the

telephone, the Internet and to conclude

this part of the paper with the

smartphones. Since the electric

telegraph is the predecessor of the

telephone and in a way every other

technological medium, it is interesting

to see how the electric telegraph made

early long distance communication

possible (Douglas 37; Kern 11).

Because of the availability ofelectricity in the nineteenth century, it

was a next big step in using the electric

telegraph. The electric telegraph

became popular under the public and

was socially accepted. Around the year

1870 telegraphy had developed in such

a way that people were still marvelling

over means of communication that had

already been in operation for over forty

years. Over two hundred submarine

cables had been laid and succeeded in

making virtually every corner of the

earth a link in a worldwide chain of

communications (American Telephone

and Telegraph Company 82). Direct

service could be conducted by telegraph

between points several thousand miles

apart. So the notion space of flows was

already in progress since the long

distances could be bridged, with each a

different perception of time. Printing

telegraphs recorded messages in Roman

letters as early as 1841. The advantage

of the electric telegraph over the

telephone, as those who ran thetelegraph industry saw it, was that

telegraphy left a permanent record

(Barnard 762).

There were all these utopian

thoughts, as we now may talk about

slight hints of hindsight, of whether the

telegraph would bring peace into to the

world and make the world a global

village (Douglas 37; Kern 13. So the

concept of the global village is not

something that was coined by Marshall

McLuhan after all, for in factresearchers and popular newspapers in

the late nineteenth century were already

speaking about a global unity. Where

space does not matter and a uniform

time (the Greenwich time zones) was

part of the unified world (Kern 11).

This, in a way, is something we can

see again in the telephone and can be

called a dj vu-like experience. This

dj vu-like experience of media is

something that Erkki Huhtamo, as a

media archaeologist, studies

excessively. Huhtamo pays particularattention to the topoi, elements that

emerge over and over again in media

history and provide certain blueprints

for experiences. In other words,

something that returns over and over

again. What may seem new often

proves to be just new packaging of

ideas repeated during hundreds and

even thousands of years (Huhtamo

222). In other sceptical words, the new

in new is eventually not new. In a way,

the telegraph was the predecessor of thetelephone within an ever-developing

information society.

When we pay close attention to the

period when the telephone was

introduced, we can see notions of

several inventors and contributors in the

process of development. The

introduction of a new medium cannot

be seen as a rupture in history. It slowly

adapted itself into society and was

gradually accepted. To give an

indication of the period when the

telephone was introduced, the notion of

Alexander Graham Bell, given by

Sidney H. Aronson applies decently in

this context. Because he states that

[t]he telephone came to America and

the rest of the world on March 10,

1876; on that day, as far as is known,

Alexander Graham Bell became the first

person to transmit speech

electrically (Aronson 15). Again the

notion space of flows can be adapted in

this citation, when talking about the

rest of the world.

But the workingman was not

convinced of its possibilities, mostly

because of the high rates that were

given for using the telephone. So the

business world adapted the telephone

much quicker than the common people,

because there was money in this area.

And because of this commercialised

way of implementing the telephone in

the everyday life of the working society,

it became accepted and available for the

common people (Pool 141-142). Thisresulted eventually in The Bell System

Corporation where they strongly put

universal service in front as the main

goal. In relation to this the economic

and marketing sections of the

businesses were pushing the medium

into the neighbourhoods. Mainly

because of the assumption that in these

particular sections of the cities most of

the money would be found (Pool et al.

142). Foremost, this was business to

business and as Chief Operating

Officer, Theodore Vail, a United Statestelephone industrialist, began creating

the Bell System, composed of regional

companies offering local service, a long

distance company providing toll service

and a manufacturing arm providing

equipment was created (Porticus).

These services were the first forms of

customer services via technological

media. The expanding of the

information society was taking a giant

leap in the process.

Furthermore it is interesting to seehow the development of the telephone

was similar to the process of

development of the Internet. The first

forms of the Internet can be related to

the research of Vannevar Bush.

Although Bush did not invent the

Internet, he was on the verge of

introducing a somewhat similar

concept. With his conceptualisation of

the Memex, a prototype of a memory

extension, which would store data and

connect it through hypertext, he would

initially lay down the fundament for the

later Tim Berners-Lee and the creator of

the World Wide Web (Bush 106). This

particular moment in the history of the

Internet took place in the 1930s. At that

time Bush saw the Memex as a medium

that would help extending, storing and

consulting data from the memory.

Though there is some criticism about

the relation to the Internet, because the

idea of Bush should be seen from the

historical perspective of microfilm

technology developed in the mid-1900s

(Buckland 286-287). Nonetheless, in

relation to the development of the

Internet and the World Wide Web and

the early conceptualisation of hypertext,

the Memex is a very interesting concept

to take into account since it is part of

the information society in many ways.

Since the Memex would connect data to

each other it can now be seen as a

crucial aspect of the formation of the

Internet and thus the information

society as we know it as of today.Besides connecting the utopian

visions of bringing the world together

into a global village and bringing peace


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17into the world to the telegraph and the

telephone, it may also be connected to

the Internet. Since these utopian vision

could also be applied to the Internet

when it was introduced. This dj vu-

like experience once again set the tone

for the rest of the history, as we know it

nowadays. But the Internet made some

of the utopian visions, and surely later

on when the World Wide Web wasintroduced, come out. Since it now is

simpler to connect one to another. And

up to today it is relatively easy to make

contact with someone positioned in, for

instance, Japan. Although time and

space are not the same, via the Internet,

communication is realised and the

notion of the information society, which

in a way has become more or less the

internet society. This developed up to

a whole new level since the Internet is

the backbone for the globally computer-mediated communication in the world

(Castells 2010: 375). This particular

aspect was also noticed by the big

corporations and saw opportunities to

outsource parts of their internal

businesses. Not only because of the

introduction of the Internet, but also the

telephone and off course the various

routes for intercontinental ships were

part of the process.

In a contemporary society,

services like Skype and instant

messaging through the Internet, create

greater and quicker possibilities in

contrast to the earlier years.